Danish Girl

Very moved this evening by The Danish Girl, the story, based on a real life, of married artist Einar Wegener (Lili Elbe) – played by Eddie Redmayne – who underwent one of the first sex-change operations in the 1930s.

Redmayne and co-star Alicia Vikander are mesmerising – as is the stunning photography in Copenhagen, Dresden and Paris. Bravery, grief, extra-ordinary sacrificial love, joy, a sense of the tragic and of turmoil all tumble into the mix. The empathy and the pioneering spirit of the surgeon paved pathways of hope for the future.

Not an easy film or one I feel a need to watch again in a hurry. But I’m left with such a deep sense of thankfulness for pioneers and that things have moved on – coupled with a recognition that there’s still a lot more changing, growing and understanding remaining to be done.